Robert Grey Reynolds - Connie Kreski

Connie Kreski

Published by Robert GreyReynolds Jr. at Smashwords

Copyright 2015 by RobertGrey Reynolds Jr.

Connie Kreski (bornConstance Joanne Kornacki, September 19, 1946-March 21, 1995)had long taffy colored hair and blueeyes that were near sighted. Born inWyandotte, Mich igan she graduated fromMercy College, a Catholic nursing school in Ann Arbor. The entirefirst year of college she had to be in her dormitory by 6:30p.m. It got to the point that I wanted tojump out the window, she told aninterviewer later. Parents think if you'retaught by nuns you'll be good but it didn't work out withme, she said.

A
fter graduation I worked for three months at a psychiatrichospital. I wore a uniform down to here, (indicating a point midwaydown the calf), and my hair under a cap. One day I went to aUniversity of Michigan football game with a doctor I was dating andI met a friend of his who was sports editor of Playboy. That's howI came to be chosen Playmate of the Month. My older sister foundout about it and told my mother and there was a big scene, Conniedivulged. We weren't speaking when I leftfor London to visit my boyfriend. Alwayscandid with reporters the beautiful actress-protege' related hermother's anguish in mid 1969.

I was in Detroit for thepicture and I stopped at home for a few hours. Before that I wentthrough my closet and found the longest skirt I had and my mothersaid, Is that a micro-miniskirt? But they were sweet and nobody putme down.

Connie Kreski's mother,Sophia Eva Sophie Sacilowski,

married Stanley T, Kornacki (December16, 1919-March 1987) in Detroit on March 22, 1941. In 1959 Stanleyworked as a checker for Great Lakes Steel in Wyandotte. The Kreskifamily lived at 1328 Poplar Street in Wyandotte, having moved from360 Ford Avenue West, their previous address. Connie's father was alaborer for Wyandotte Chemical Corporation as late as 1950. DuringWorld War II he served in the United States Navy as a Fireman FirstClass. Stanley Kornacki died in Riverview, Michigan in March 1987and is buried in Mount Carmel Cemetery in Wyandotte.

After she became a PlaymateConnie leased her own apartment near Detroit. She and Mimi, agirlfriend, rented a truck along with their escorts on the day shemoved. Following several hours of packing the Playmate describedthe frenetic pace of the day. I hadn'trealized just how much stuff I managed to accumulate over the yearsuntil I tried to get it all together.

Gossip Marilyn Beck(December 17, 1928-May 31, 2014) told her readers that Connie'sLondon boyfriend was the owner of the Playboy Club in Blighty(England). A year later, after he dated Kreski, Beck discoveredthat the club owner had found six moregirlfriends in addition to Valley of the Dolls star,Canadian-American actress Barbara Parkins (born May 22, 1942).Parkins was greatly enchanted with the club owner but she informedBeck that he remained unresponsive. Barbara soon came to realizeshe was just one of his many girls.

The identity of the man in questionwas not revealed. However it is well known that Playboy promotionmanager, Victor Aubrey Lownes III (born April 17, 1928), managedthe Playboy Club operation. Lownes married 1973 Playmate of theYear Marilyn Cole (born May 7, 1949) in 1984. She was a formerbunny at the London club. Individual clubs, including the one inLondon, were run by various managers hired by Lownes. The firstPlayboy Club opened in Chicago in 1960.

Connie accompanied VictorLownes for a holiday in Switzerland in early 1970. Film directorRoman Polanski (born August 18, 1933) came along, only to behounded night and day by paparazzi photographers. Kreski toldMarilyn Beck that Polanski was already having difficulty pullinghimself together following the August 1969 murder of his wife,actress Sharon Marie Tate (January 24, 1943-August 9, 1969). Theintense media scrutiny certainly complicated his circumstances.In The Day The Bunny Died (1983) Lownes credits Polanski for introducing himto Connie Kreski. The Playboy Club chief describes Kreski as a beautiful, fragile looking blonde who becamePlayboy's Playmate of the Year in 1969.

In the days after the murders ofSharon Tate and Jay Sebring (October 10, 1933-August 9, 1969) at10050 Cielo Drive, in the Benedict Canyon section of Los Angeles,Los Angeles Times writer Joyce Haber (December 28, 1932-July 29,1993) named Connie Kreski among the murdered actress' socialcircle. Some of

Sharon Tate's closestfriends were John Edmund Andrew PapaJohn Phillips (August 30, 1935-March 18,2001), Michelle Phillips (born June 6, 1944), Tina Sinatra (bornJune 20, 1948), Winifred Jacqueline Fraser Bissett (born September 13, 1944), MichaelSarrazin (May 22, 1940-April 17, 2011) and Andrew Prine (bornFebruary 14, 1936).

Connie Kreski became anactress in a most unique way during a trip to London. I was visiting inLondon, she remarked to aninterviewer, and had just had lunch with afriend at a club. While waiting for an elevator, I noticed a manstaring at me, and since his face was familiar, I smiled. Thestaring continued in the elevator and when we reached the lobby heapproached and asked me if I was an actress. When I told him Iwasn't he smiled and said you are now.

Anthony Newley was the manwho was staring at Kreski. He quickly cast her in his new Universalfilm, Can Hieronymous Merkin Ever ForgetMercy Humppe and Find True Happiness?

Connie Kreski's parents wereshocked when she posed for Playboy as Playmate of the Month forJanuary 1968. She didn't feel shame however, as she revealed tocolumnist Rebecca Morehouse in a May 1969 interview. I didn't think there was anything wrong with doingit. I was flattered because they choose only 12 girls a year. I hadon a see through negligee, but it was tastefullydone , Kreski opined. These are not dirty pictures.

Her parents were soonsurprised once more by their daughter's audacity with the releaseof her first film, Can Hieronymous MerkinEver Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness? An erotic comedy Connie acts the part of MercyHumppe. Music for the film was written by its star TonyNewley.

Motion picture critic RexReed (born October 2, 1938) panned both the film and Newley,commenting in his review, Quick to catch on to the fast buck idea, AnthonyNewley (born September 24, 1931) has now cornered the market on Hollywood-stylepornography.

Morehouse found Kreski quitedefensive in her reaction to Reed's review, or any others that werecritical of Hieronymous Merkin. I thinkit's a lovely story and it's very honest. He doesn't hide nudityand his two wives were pregnant when he married them, Connie explained, but itall fits in with the story. Tony is a very good and lovely person. I can't sayanything bad about him.

My parents haven't seen thepicture so far as I know, but they've heard about it and mother'staking tranquilizers. Parents are wonderful. Mine are PolishCatholics, she emphasized.

Albany Times-Union dramacritic Martin P. Kelly described the Newley film as a poor mixture ofstyles. Kelly also criticized the daringfilmmaker as having an ego the size ofWashington Park . Tony Newley wrote ninesongs for Hieronymous Merkin. The motion picture features the titlecharacter in a variety of lovemaking scenes withKreski. Kelly emphasized that none of these scenes demonstrated anyacting ability on Connie's part. However, they did support the reasons for her appearance on the Playboycenterfold.

Film writer Leonard Maltin(born December 18, 1950) commented negatively about Hieronymous Merkin in his own review. Fellini influenced mess about song and dance man who reviewshis debauched past. Low-grade in all departments, though Conniereveals why she was Playmate of the Year.